Franklin Pierce University hosted its final presidential candidate town hall in its “Pizza and Politics” series before the New Hampshire primary on Saturday, with Republican Nikki Haley.

As traditional with the series, which previously brought Republicans Doug Burgum and Chris Christie and Democrat Dean Phillips to campus, Haley was gifted her favorite pizza – pepperoni – following her speech. She also received a cupcake to commemorate her birthday, which was Saturday, accompanied by a spontaneous round of “Happy Birthday” from the crowd that filled Franklin Pierce’s Spagnuolo Hall.

“You can give me your gifts on Tuesday, at a polling place near you,” Haley joked as she accepted the cupcake.

Rindge was one of multiple stops Haley made over the weekend, including one earlier in the day on Saturday at Peterborough’s Monadnock Center for History and Culture. The former South Carolina governor and United Nations representative was introduced by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Haley and has been campaigning with her throughout the state.

Sununu pushed Haley as a fresh face for the Republican Party and an alternative to former President Donald Trump, the current Republican front-runner, whom he called “the orange-haired elephant in the room.” With the other prominent Republican candidate, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, suspending his campaign, Haley and Trump remain the two primary candidates in the Republican field.

“Regardless of why you want to move on from Donald Trump, if you think he’s a threat to democracy, whatever it is, if you think that, then participate in democracy. Get out there and vote. This is where your vote really, really matters,” Sununu said, adding that Haley “is the story, she is the future, and everybody wants to see the next move.”

Haley spoke of the current tough economy and the $34 trillion in national debt, saying that the nation needed to “claw back” COVID stimulus funds and stop borrowing and overspending.

“Now we’re sitting in a situation where not only do we have that debt, 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, 50% of American families can’t afford diapers, one in six American families can’t afford to pay their utility bill. We’ve got to get this wasteful spending back on track,” Haley said.

Haley said she plans to help the middle class by eliminating taxes on fuel and diesel, simplify tax brackets and make small-business tax cuts permanent. She also touted a plan to bring federal programs to the state level, which she said would reduce cost and red tape, including programs for education, welfare and mental health.

“If we were able to move all of that down with no strings attached and give those resources to the states, we’d save a lot of money in that process,” Haley said.

Haley said that to compete with foreign powers, the United States needed to become a strong energy producer by building natural gas pipelines and nuclear power, and promised to “get the [Environmental Protection Agency] out of the way,” saying, “Right now, they care more about sagebrush lizards than they do about whether we can afford our utility bill. And for the young people in this room, all of us care about clean air and clean water, and a world to give to our children and our grandchildren. It’s how we go about it. Yes, I think climate change is real. But stop with the extremes.”

Haley said statistics show shrinking proficiency among eighth-graders in math and reading, and touted school choice and parental involvement in their child’s learning.

“We’ve got to get our kids reading again,” Haley said. “And no parent should wonder what’s being said to their child in the classroom. We need complete transparency in the classroom; every curriculum should be online so the parents can see it.”

On the border and immigration, Haley pointed to her home state of South Carolina, and the policies she enacted on illegal immigration, and said she would bring that attitude to the White House. She said the United States needed to move to a “catch-and-deport” mode of dealing with illegal immigration, defund sanctuary cities, institute an e-verify program to require employers to prove that their employees are in the country legally and crack down on border crossings she said were responsible for the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States by adding more immigration agents on the ground.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.